Meet Jeremiah Kipp | Film Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jeremiah Kipp and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jeremiah, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I’m one of those kids who grew up in tremendous poverty. Recently, I was back home tossing out old documents in the basement and saw how close to zero my family’s bank accounts were. It was really an eye opener knowing how my life turned out considering I literally came from nothing.

It was honestly sheer force of will and a deep desire to live a creative life, plus the passion of my grandfather for me to get a better life and have all the chances he never had. I was always encouraged to be creative. Drawing, writing, playing make believe, none of those things cost money but enrich your life. I was given a steady diet of books and movies and music. These allowed me to build a rich inner life and tap into a dream world of art making.

My grandfather’s first risk on my behalf was buying me a VHS camcorder and with that I literally made hundreds of movies with my friends: a biography film about Vincent Van Gogh, a three hour adaptation of Stephen King’s THE STAND,.zombie movies and rip-offs of TWIN PEAKS. When it came time to go to college, I took a risk in only applying for the ivy league school I wanted to attend: NYU film school. An art teacher, Mrs Callahan, helped me line up a series of grants and scholarships and a lot if my education was paid for by a benefactor whose child died being thrown off a horse; the money that would have gone to her education went to mine. I never forgot that ghost.

After going to a prestigious film school, I didn’t get my first feature film right away. I worked administrative jobs and on the side directed for film collectives and practiced my skills. Once my side hustle was a true resume, I jumped ship and became a full time freelancer. I gave up financial stability for freedom and never looked back.

Since then there have been ups and downs, but I’ve directed seven feature films including a project called SLAPFACE that I had been wanting to.make for years, a monster movie set in the world of rural poverty I grew up in, with one of the main characters named after my grandfather who taught me to take risks because we only have one life to live, so set your intentions and aim for doing what you love. I’m a feature film director, which is all I ever wanted to do ever since I was a child. I am still living that risk and nurture it every day.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
One of the theories of success is to build a ladder based on other people; you climb over them and leave them behind to climb on top of others. Social climbing is certainly a way to do it, but it’s not sustainable unless you have tons of money to rebuild your network every time.

Being an artist without a trust fund behind him, I didn’t choose that route. My path has been more about building an artistic community around me of actors and crew and producers and investors and distributors who believe in the shared experience of what we are doing.

SLAPFACE is a good role model for that; the crew were folks I have been working with for 10 years. You know what to expect from them, and they know what to expect from me. There are foundations of trust and equanimity. Many of them went on to the next job with me and Dominick. When you find people you love working with and hold onto them, they grow with you. It’s very fulfilling and safe.

Creating safety in your art making doesn’t sound like it equals success; but here’s the thing: the way you make the movie has a direct line into the result. If the movie is made with love and care, with people you love and care about, people will feel that. Once you give that to the audience, they will become a part of that experience. SLAPFACE was a film about outsiders, and the audience saw that in themselves. They felt the passion in the filmmaking, and felt it themselves. We heard stories of audience members leaving movie theaters on the film festival circuit with tears streaming down their faces. Of course some people hated the movie, but a lot of others connected with what we were saying and how we said it.

So in addition to setting yourself up with amazing people making the movie, it’s always important to think about the audience, the way a storyteller thinks of the effect their tale is having on the listener. It’s not that you are catering to the audience, but you are caring about them the whole time. Paying attention to the information and the feeling you are giving them. Ultimately, once the movie is done, it no longer belongs to you; no one cares about your problems making it or financing it, they care about themselves; and if your movie opens up something in themselves, the movie belongs to them now.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Chinatown…for the delicious food and the experience of walking through the streets filled with energy.

Coney Island for the strangeness and the seashore and the rickety rides and the endless people watching.

Central Park for both being in the forest and hearing the city at the same time, the paradox of macro and micro, inside and outside…

Alice’s Tea Cup for some scones and drinking from objects that are larger and smaller in that peculiar Lewis Carroll way. The business is run by a wonderful actor and writer named Lauren Fox, so supporting this classic NYC venue Aldo supports the arts…

Go to Harlem and catch a show at the Apollo where you feel that intensity of performance and the way the audience shares in the experience…

Visit Washington Square Park where you might catch some performance art or find a bohemian with a sign saying FREE HUGS…we all need one.

And cozy up at The Strand for miles of used books. You never know what you might find there.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
None of us make it here on our own. We all need community. I’m deeply grateful to my friend and director of photography Dominick Sivilli. I had been trying to get that movie SLAPFACE going for years, with various producers, and it just wasn’t happening. I gave up, put the script in a drawer, and made other movies as a hired gun director.

One day I’ll never forget, Dom suggested we do a 5-minute short film proof of concept for SLAPFACE. He said he had five grand and wanted something fantastical on his reel.

That sounded great to me, but he also requested we do some crowd funding so maybe he wouldn’t have to spend five grand. We got the money that way and he laughed and sighed in relief, saying he didn’t REALLY have five grand he just wanted me to live my dream and this felt like the way to do it.

I didn’t know whether to kiss him or punch him, but we made the short film and played film festivals for three years and along the way found great producers who financed the feature. The dream project became a reality and went on to great reviews and financial success, and was the movie we had wanted to make for so long.

None of this would have happened without my friend Dom saying let’s try. He was the spark. Friendships like that remind you it isn’t just show business and red carpets, it’s trust and love and commitment and helping each other. I hope to do unto others what Dom did for me. My shout out goes go him.

Website: https://m.imdb.com/name/nm0456031/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeremiah.kipp/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jeremiah.kipp.5

Youtube: https://youtu.be/PjX2jAQPYtg

Image Credits
Headshot by Charles Chessler